Last week we had our anual pre christmas break intersquad meet. It was pretty cool. We had a radio announcer guy going around with a microphone doing intro's for each athlete before every event, music pumping through the PA system the whole time. The kids really seemed to enjoy it. Before this year the intersquad had always been kind of a joke but this was neat the kids really enjoyed it. Even my group seemed not to hate it too much. It kind of stinks because this meet is always either at the end of or right after our down cycle for cross country so we never are very sharp, but we did well. The distance events were a mile and a true 2 mile, I thought it'd be nice to run that since the kids don't get too during the regular season. Here are the results_________________Time is the fire in which we burn

Yeah this year we've got a ton of solid 400 meter runners. So spots on the 4X400 "A" team are pretty highly prized. The womens two mile was close throughout. with the winner out kicking the second place girl in the final lap and the girl who finished third hanging on until a lap and a half to go. And although I have no idea how the times were the winner of the men's 60 looked impressive. And he's one heck of a long jumper, when he hits the board._________________Time is the fire in which we burn

Our sprinters and jumpers are at the top of the conference and our throwers really carry the team. My distance kids hold their own until conference where we are lucky to score any points. It stinks to run distance when you've got Adams and Western State to race against._________________Time is the fire in which we burn

Well the kids are back from christmas break. We had our first practice. There was some good some bad and some ugly. My top girl really looks good I think she will probably break our indoor school record in the 3000 (10:19) and may also hit provisional quailifying in the 5000 (18:09) with a shot to break that school record as well (17:54). I have two other girls that have a shot at the 3000 school record. One of whom is also going to be a pretty good miler/1500 runner this year. On the other side my men for the most part had less than stellar breaks in terms of training. I just sent them out for a mileage run instead of putting them on the track. We'll see where they are on Wednesday. We've got our first meet this coming weekend, it's at home.
On the bad side I had a girl who I really enjoyed coaching quit the team. She's from a family of ranchers and the draught we've had over the last couple of years has forced her family to sell off the herd. So she is going to have to work to pay for school and just isn't going to be able to find time for track. Hopefully things will workout and she can resume her running in the near future. In the mean time life will go on._________________Time is the fire in which we burn

Well the kids are back from christmas break. We had our first practice.

Tell me about it! I just got back from a run and was tripping over dozens of little people on the way back.

Do you find it difficult to motivate people for winter training when there's a meet the week after break? That reminds me of high school cross country... We don't really have any Indoor season around here, so I'm not overly familiar with the nature of that scheduling.

It's always tough to motivate people over break especially christmas since the weather is colder and the kids feel like they just finished a tough x-c season. The athletes that stay in town seem to do okay, I think because being near the college and seeing the gym is just a little reminder. The kids that leave town never seem to do as well. Although of coarse exceptions. But it's generally the same old story lots of kids going boy I should have run more over break and me teklling them I told you so._________________Time is the fire in which we burn

We did it went pretty well. My distance runners faired very well for the most part. We won the mens mile (4:29 he ran to win the race not for time), womens 5000 (19:18 only three people in the race), and womens 3000 (10:45), we just missed winning the men's 5000 in what was the race of the day. My guy took the pace early, then with 6 laps to go the eventual winner took a 10-15 meter lead, my guy faught back reclaimed the lead on the final lap only to have the other guy come back and just out lean him at the wire. As soon as our web site has a link I'll post it.

Next weeks meet is a biggy. It's the University of Nebraska's home meet. Last year at this meet I had a 1:53.7 800 guy who was in the 3rd of 6 heats if that tells you anything about how good the compotition is. I'm hoping the girl that won the 3k today will be able to make a run at provisionally quailifing in the 5000 (18:09) there. I've also got the guy who won the mile running the 5k so we'll see how close he comes to the quailifying time._________________Time is the fire in which we burn

Here's a press release with a link to full results. All in all not a bad day. Being the first meet of the year it was as much about finding out where you are as it was about competing._________________Time is the fire in which we burn